


Science Can Wait

by chonkadonk



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Gen, Parenthood, in a lil au where gordon knows science team before all of that happens, this is pre-resonance cascade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25208869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chonkadonk/pseuds/chonkadonk
Summary: gordon freeman gets the most important call of his life at work
Comments: 2
Kudos: 72





	Science Can Wait

**Author's Note:**

> hi i swear im not dead!! im in a bit of a writers funk on the next chapter of what dreams are made of so please take this in the mean time!!! some gordon epic dad momence!

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Each second felt agonizingly slow for Gordon Freeman. How could they not, when he was anticipating one of the most important events in his adult life? His wife was at home, due any day now to go into labor. And then — then his son would finally be in the world!

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. God, being stuck in Black Mesa had never felt more agonizing, even when he was stuck doing the most tedious and downright gross jobs around the place. Today, he had been lucky; working with the science team on a small scale test experiment for something they had planned to do down the line years later. A cart rising on a platform, Gordon Freeman suited in the HEV Suit (though it wasn’t necessary, as there was no radiation in this test, it was good protocol just to carry on as though it was a real experiment.)

“Mr. freeman?” A voice called, a pair of eyes peering through one of the openings in the wall. “Is — did the cuh-cart, show up? Yet?” Dr. Coolatta’s head fully popped in (this ‘test chamber’ had no windows) and peered around.

“No, Tommy — Dr. Coomer, have you sent it up yet?”

“Yes, Gordon! Dr. Bubby And I Have Sent Up The Cart, It Should Be Arriving Any Moment Now!”

“Keep your damn eyes open Gordon we havent got all day!”

“ _ Shut up, _ Bubby, I swear to god—”

Before this thought could be finished, probably accompanied by a friendly threat, the sound of gears turning and metal moving interrupted Gordon and he turned a few times before finally spotting it; a rinky-dink cart lifting up from a small panel in the ground.

“Okay — Alright, guys, I see it! Cart’s up!” He called. This would be easy enough, just push the cart into the ‘laser’ (a projected light for the sake of this test run, since the science team wasn’t exactly... the most  _ trustworthy _ with actual lasers) and that was it.

But as he started to move the cart forward, things proved to not be that easy. His phone began to ring — “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders (that was his wife, Zoey’s, ringtone!) playing loudly in the small area.

“Now really Gordon! Taking a phone call in the middle of an experiment? What the hell!”

“Don’t bust my balls, Bubby, that’s my wife — I need to take this, you know damn well I’ve got a baby that could be on the way at any moment, thank you very much.”

Ditching the cart, Gordon went over to the bag that he left propped against the wall and dug his phone out, holding it up to his ear and straightening himself up.

“Hello?”

Idly he walked around the room, very much ignoring the  _ tch! _ Bubby let out every so often (he knew that the other man was just messing with him; Bubby didn’t give a shit if anything got done in Black Mesa on  _ any _ given day.) He paced, and paced, and paced — until he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

“I — what? Seriously?” His face slackened, before immediately being taken over by a wide, beaming grin. “No way, I — really?  _ Really? _ Okay — okay, Zoey, call my mom — I know, I know! Call my mom, she’ll take you, and I’m leaving right now, as soon as possible — okay! Okay, yes, I love you, I’ll see you soon! Bye!”

Suddenly, Gordon Freeman was  _ bursting _ with energy. He could hardly sit still and he took to quickly tracing the room once again.

“Gordon, Is Everything All Right?” Coomer’s head poked in now through the opening, raising a thick bushy eyebrow.

“Holy shit — yes! Yes, everything is — it’s more than all right!” Laughter colored his words, and he hurried over to his bag, putting his phone back in it and scooping it up over his shoulder. “She’s — Zoey — it’s happening! It’s happening, Joshua — Joshua’s on his way! The baby’s coming!”

The three older men all perked up at this.

“O-Oh! Congratulations mr. freeman!!! You-you’re guh-gonna be a dad!!”

“Wonderful News, Gordon! Your Boy Will Be Beautiful!”

“Oh my god! Hurry up and fucking go Gordon! So you can shut the hell up about it!”

That grin never once left Gordon’s face. Even with Bubby’s...  _ crass _ words, he had known the science team long enough to know that that was his own strange way of showing that he cared, showing his own excitement.

“I — Holy shit, okay, can one of you get the HEV Suit thing ready so I can get this shit off? Oh my god, I need to go, holy fuck —” And without a second glance back, Gordon scrambled out of the makeshift test chamber.

On his way out, after everything else was said and done, he was stopped by a familiar face — a certain security guard.

“hey, man,” he said. “what’cha, what’cha rushin’ for? gonna need to see your passport, make sure you’re not. not runnin’ off to steal stuff.”

Gordon couldn’t even muster his usual playful exasperation.

“No time for that, Benrey! My son’s on the way!”

In a flurry of excitement he rushed past Benrey, who was left there blankly for a moment — before smiling slightly.

“better make sure that baby’s got his, uh, his passport, feetman — or he’s not allowed in here.” Benrey called after the other, a crooked grin sliding onto his face. And then, a pause.

“...congrats, gordon!”


End file.
